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Ireland wants Donlon, who had been hiding in Guilderland

Thursday, January 31, 2019 - 14:59

GUILDERLAND — Raymond Donlon, an Irish native who is believed to have been living in Guilderland since last April, is in extradition proceedings for removal to Ireland, where he is wanted on 394 criminal counts of protracted sex abuse of two boys.

An extradition hearing was held in federal court in the Albany chambers of Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart on Jan. 25 and was adjourned to Feb. 1, according to court documents.

Police have not received any reports about Donlon having abused anyone during his time in Guilderland, Assistant United States Attorney Michael Barnett told The Enterprise. Barnett added that anyone with information about Donlon is asked to call Homeland Security Investigation’s Albany Office at 518-220-2129.

Barnett said public records showed Donlon to be living locally under his true name and date of birth, and Donlon is currently being held in Rensselaer County’s jail.

According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York on Jan. 16, Donlon was living at 2568 Western Ave., Apartment 5-6.The address of Carpenter Village Apartments is 2568 Western Ave. The complaint says Donlon’s address was confirmed through surveillance and utility and other records.

There was no name on the mailbox at that apartment, and no one answered the door.

The crimes, which occurred in Ireland between 2004 and 2009, were reported years later, beginning in 2012.

Donlon is charged with 210 counts of sexual assault, 177 counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, three counts of assault causing harm, one count of false imprisonment, one count of damage to property, and one count of harassment.

Donlon was well known within the local sporting community in Longford, Ireland, according to the complaint, which adds that Donlon was active at the sports ground and small stadium Pearse Park, coaching underage teams and assisting as a sports photographer and office administrator.

The complaint details the allegations by two young men whom, it says, Donlon began abusing when both were minors.

Victim CM told police in November 2012 that Donlon had sexually abused him between 2005 and 2009, when he was between the ages of 11 and 16. Much of the abuse occurred at Pearse Park, the complaint claims, and consisted of Donlon forcing CM to touch Donlon’s erect penis and masturbate him.

Police investigation uncovered another minor victim, TK, the complaint claims, noting that Donlon coached and groomed TK from the age of at least 12, “giving him a job, gifts, money and trips away from a difficult home life.”

The complaint outlines the abuse of TK: Donlon is accused of sexually abusing him for a long period, from 2004 to 2009, including multiple times per week between 2004 and 2006, starting when TK was 13. TK’s abuse occurred mainly at Pearse Park, but also in Donlon’s home and in various other locations, including hotel rooms, and consisted of masturbation and oral sex by both parties multiple times per week, the court papers allege.

Donlon also attempted, the complaint alleges, to have anal intercourse on one occasion, which TK resisted; this was the subject of an attempted-rape charge. TK alleges that Donlon’s treatment of him came to involve “a pattern of isolation, sexual assault and physical abuse” and that, over time, the sexual abuse lessened as he resisted it, and the physical abuse increased, the complaint claims. Donlon is also charged with falsely imprisoning TK, harassing him, and damaging his property.

The two victims’ statements are internally and independently corroborated, the complaint says. For example, paperwork containing TK’s signature from a hotel where TK was reportedly abused was found at Donlon’s home, as were photos of a nude young male.

At least two other witnesses, known as RB and JD, told police that Donlon asked them for photographs of their genitals when they were minors, the complaint says.

After search warrants were executed on his home in Ireland in 2013, according to a memorandum of law dated Jan. 22, Donlon’s attorney offered to meet with an investigation team, but Donlon fled the jurisdiction, and went on to spend time in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In Ireland, warrants for his arrest were issued in September 2017, according to the complaint.

In September 2018, the Irish Garda, or police, through Homeland Security Investigations Attaché in London, requested assistance in finding Donlon in the United States, and HSI New York located him living in Guilderland, the complaint says. Ireland submitted a formal request for Donlon’s extradition in November 2018, the memorandum of law says, and on Jan. 16, the United States filed a complaint in this district seeking a warrant for his arrest, and he was arrested on that same date.

The role of the federal court in Albany, according to the memorandum, is not to decide whether Donlon is guilty of the charges, but only to consider whether the legal requirements for extraditability have been established in this case, including whether there is “reasonable ground to believe” that Donlon is guilty. “An extradition hearing is not a criminal prosecution,” the memorandum says.

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